Potato-cutter.



P. J. BRUMBLY & E. B. AKER. POTATO CUTTER.

APPLICATION FILED JANA, 1910. [RENEWED Nov. 14, 1910.

. 995 054 Patented June 13,1911.

Atlamey QXMN ear

FRANK J. BRUMBLY AND ERDLY B. AKEB, OF LA. JAR-A, COLORADO.

POTATO-CUTTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 13, 1911.

Application filed January 3, 1910, Serial No. 536,016. Renewed November 14, 1910. Serial No. 592,327.

To all whom it may concern:

7 Be it known that we, FRANK J. BRUMBLY and ERDLY B. Anna, citizens of the United States, residing at La J ara, in the county of C'onejos and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Potato-Cutters, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to a machine for cutting potatoes and like tubers into pieces for the purpose of planting.

An object of our invention is to provide a machine whereby the operation can be quickly, effectively, and easily performed.

A further objectof our invention is to so construct a machine for the purpose described, that the potatoes when out will not be unnecessarily bruised, or bruised to any appreciable extent, and to provide means whereby a vertical plunger may be employed to feed the potatoes to the knives, the chute through which the potatoes pass while traveling toward the knives being adapted to automatically center the potatoes and hold the same with their longitudinal axes in an approximately vertical position yet being capable of yielding to the plunger when forcing the potatoes toward said knives.

A further object of our invention is to pro-' vide a machine comprising a vertically reciprocating plunger, said machine having novel means for supporting and operating the same.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part. of this specification and in which like numeral references are'used to designate like parts throughout the same, Figure 1 is a perspective View of our machine complete, a part thereof being shown in section. Fig. 2 is a plan view of our machine, the hopper shown in Fig. 1 being omitted. Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 and a portion thereof being omitted. Fig. 4: is a perspective view of the knives used upon our machine.

In the drawings, 1 designates a square member having the opening 2 arranged centrally therein, said member 1 forming the body portion of the machine and being arranged by the angularly supporting legs 3 suitably secured thereto and near the corners thereof. Below the member 1 there is arranged a plate 1 having a centrally arranged opening 5. A cutter 6 comprising the blades 7 and 8 is arranged within the opening upon the plate at and is secured to said plate 4 by screws or bolts, securing the ends of said knives 7 and 8 to projections 9 and 10 respectively, arranged diametrically upon said plate at. The plate 1 as before stated, is arranged below the member 1 and is supported by said member 1 by means of the bolts 11 which are arranged at the corners of memher 1 and passing therethrough, pass through corresponding corners of the plate 4 and are secured therein by means of the taps 12. Members 13 and 14: are arranged around the edges of the opening 2 upon member 1, and are secured thereto in a manner hereinafter to be described. Each of the members 13 14 comprises a resilient U-shaped section of wire 1 1 or the like having the ends thereof bent downwardly to form hooked-shaped extremities 15. A U-shaped member 16 similar to the member 13 but of smaller dimensions is arranged within and between the sides of each of said U-shaped members 13 and secured to said members 13 at the bottom thereof. The member 14 is composed of a single section of resilient wire having hooked extremities 17. The members 13 and 14- are arranged around the edges of said opening 2 alternately as is apparent upon Fig. 3.

' Special attention is called to the fact that the U-shaped members'13, 1 1 and 16 are capable of being readily forced outwardly to permit the potato being forced downwardly into engagement with the cutter. Owing to the fact that said spring members have their upper ends fixedly secured within the plate 1, they will not wabble or move laterally, whereby the potato will be held with its longitudinal axis in a substantially vertical position. 'The U-shaped spring members 13 and 16, by having their ends connected together, are further prevented from wabbling. It is worthy of note that the shape of the U-shapedspring members though positively preventing them from wabbling do not interfere with their resiliency when being forced outwardly by a po tato or the like. In a device of this char acter, it is very necessary that the springs which guide the potatoes to the knives or cutter should be as slight or resilient as pos sible, and so far as we are aware the U- shaped form of spring employed in our apparatus is the only form whereby a sufliciently slight spring may be employed without the same wabbling.

Upon the upper surface of the member 1 is secured a U-shaped strip of metal 18 having horizontally arranged extremities 19 suitably secured to said member 1 as shown at 20. A strip 21 is arranged above said member 1 and has the extremities thereof secured to opposing portions of the strip 18 as shown at 22. Brace rods 23 having one end thereof secured upon the upper surface of said member 1 have the other ends secured to strip 21 as shown at 2 1, for the purpose of steadying said strip 21. A plunger 25 comprising a rod 26 and the head 27 provided with the slots 28 upon its lower surface is vertically and slidably mounted upon the strips 18 and 21 by means of the brackets 29 and 30 re spectively, secured to said strips 18 and 21 as shown at 31 and 32 respectively, the rod 26 of the plunger 25 being arranged between said brackets 29 and 30 and the strips 18 and 21. A rod 33 is pivotally connected to the strip 18 at 34c and to the rod 26, the

' bolt 35 passing through the slot 35, upon said rod 33, for a purpose hereinafter to be described. A connecting rod 36 has one end thereof pivotally connected to said rod 33 near the middle thereof and extending downwardly pivotally engages at 37 an operating lever 37 which is pivotally connected to said member 1 at 38. A retractile spring 38 is connected to strip 18 at 39 and to the operating lever at 40 and serves to return said plunger and the members associated therewith to their normal position as shown in Fig.1.

'The hopper 40 comprising a body portion A1 and legs 42 secured thereto, is arranged with its open end 43 adjacent the opening 2 upon said member 1 and serves as a receptacle for holding the potatoes or like which are to be cut. The body 41 as shown in Fig. 1 is inclined so that the potatoes will gravitate toward the open end 43 thereof, and from which they may be readily fed by hand to the machine.

The operation of our machine is as follows: A potato is fed through the opening 2 upon the member 1, and said potato is engaged by the resilient members 13 and 145 and held thereby in such a position that its longitudinal axis is in an approximately vertical position. The operating lever 37 is then forced downwardly which movement will cause the rod 33 to be swung downwardly, said rod 33 forcing the plunger 25 vertically and downwardly for engagement with said potato to press the same against the cutter 6. It will be obvious by referring to Fig. 1 that the brackets 29 and 30 form a guide way adapted to retain the plunger 25 in its vertical position and that the slot 35 permits of the necessary adjustment between the rod 33 and plunger rod 26, as the end of said rod 33 is swung in the arc of a circle, as shown in Fig. 1.

Having fully described our invention, what we claim is:

In a potato cutter, a body plate provided with an opening, a plurality of pairs of U- shaped spring members arranged within said opening and connected to said body plate to extend downwardly therefrom,one of the U-shaped spring members of each of said pairs being arranged within the other U- shaped spring member, and connected to said other U-shaped spring'member at its end, a plunger mounted above said pairs of U-shaped members to feed material between the same, means for actuating said plunger, a skeleton plate arranged below said body plate, bolts detachably connecting said body plate and skeleton plate, and a cutter arranged within the opening ofsaid skeleton plate.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK J. BRUMBLY. ERDLY B. AKER. Witnesses:

GUY M. WILsoN, GIJ. Parsons.

Copies 01' this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing'the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. G. 

